Abandoned, Book 2: Let's Not Play Pretend
by Shaggelmalove
Summary: A continuation to Abandoned. The gang gets a bigger part in this one    Shelma, Fraphne, and a couple other pairings along the way. On haitus.
1. Chapter 1

Abandoned, Book Two: The Chronicles of the Smiths

Chapter One: Let's Not Play Pretend

8:30 PM EST 2012, United States of America, Buffalo, New York  
Buffalo Psychiatric Ward, exactly two years later.

It was raining in September, not a very odd sight at all in New York. She had been sitting on the cot in her room, staring at the raindrops as they slid their way down her window. She couldn't remember much, just that she arrived here one day and even though the ward had been closed for quite sometime, had been allotted to stay there. She wasn't insane, by a doctor's account anyway, this was simply the only place for a girl that couldn't recall even her name much less where she came from or how she got here. All she knew was what they had told her, her caretakers. She was at least seventeen years old and a blood test had concurred that she was not cancerous or disease ridden in that sense.

Still though, she often wondered who she was or if somewhere she had a family looking for her. They called her Jane here, but she knew that was only because she was a "Jane Doe" case in their eyes. She turned from the window and walked over to her bureau. She gently picked up her brush and for the millionth time examined her features as she brushed out her hair. She had long dark golden hair that was oddly mixed with brunette and reached just to her lower back. Her eyes were an emerald green but often she found that they changed shades as the day wore on. Her face was oval shaped with not many defining features. She was simply average and that's what baffled both investigators and herself. She looked no one and she was no one. Her cell phone vibrated next to her. She set the brush aside and picked up her cell phone. She only had her caretakers numbers in her contacts and so she was surprised to read a very unfamiliar number as she opened a text message.

_'Hello Jane, _My name is Stanley Smith. You do not know me, but I know a lot about you. We shared a life together once, Jane and I do believe you've lost it. I just thought it'd be fair of me to report that you are in very real danger at the psychiatric ward. You're caregivers are not all that they seem. You're case was never 'investigated', Jane. They lied to you. They know who you are, Jane, just as I do. If you want to live your life, I suggest you find me.

- Stan

P.S. Here's your clue:

Though you think you do not know me,  
We share a past.  
The answers you look for are within me,  
Time is running fast.  
Look for me at sundown,  
Where many flags do fly.  
You'll find me at the waters,  
Where revolutionary stakes were high.'

Jane shivered and closed the text message. She felt something stir inside of her at the sender's message. Danger? She'd never been hurt here before and her caretakers seemed nice enough. This person was a joke, they had to be. But still, Jane thought about her time in the ward. She'd asked them hundreds of questions when they brought the investigators in, but they'd only asked her one. She'd answered it, but something had happened. They'd always told her she blacked out, that it must have been a result from the stress of arriving in Buffalo and waking up at the ward. But a smell, she remembered it, a smell had lingered around her. It was sweet and strong, something she had never experienced before as far as she could recollect. It was almost poisonous. Was it there before or after she had passed out? She couldn't  
remember, but something was very odd and deeply upsetting about the memory.

She shivered again as she heard her door creak open and someone step inside. "Jane," the person who had welcomed themselves into her quarters called to her, "It's time for dinner, dear."

**AN: I'm terribly sorry about all of the unfinished stories I have going. I realize it looks bad to say that as I'm posting this, but here's what I'd like to do. I'm going to focus solely on this story and fixing up and re-posting old chapters for Abandoned. Once this is finished or almost so, I want to start going back and fixing up and finishing all of my other unfinished works that were either presents for friends or forgotten works. Audrey, I swear I'll get to your story, but I want to get out of my hole of unfinished works first.**

Arya: She swears she feels bad about all of this and not to worry that she will still post the occasional late-night one-shot, poemfic/songfic, or poem for you when she's in-between chapters for this.

Annabeth: As for Stan, we'll get back to work on Phantom probably this weekend so we can get that finished and done for you.

Ajihad: We you all thank for patient being her with ^^

Athena: With all that said, sadly she does not own anything of Scooby Doo and a few of what are considered OC's are based off of real people that she knows and has permission from to use in her stories. Enjoy and please leave a nice review for her :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Me: So yeah... I kinda failed at my promise to keep all of my stories updated... and my promise for a Valentine's Day story on time for Valentine's Day for Psych, Scooby Doo, and the Inheritance Cycle...**  
**Arya: Believe me, I'm making sure she feels pain for this later...**  
**Me: Can't I just, you know make up for it by doing it now and trying better in the future?**  
**Arya: - Glare -**  
**Athena: Okay, while Arya stares angrily at Colby, we hope you enjoy the story and we are terribly sorry for the inconvenience of her lateness.**  
**Annabeth: Don't forget to review!**

Chapter Two:

Perhaps she was an idiot for doing this, I mean how many crime shows has she seen over the past two years she could recall that told her if a stranger has your number and is sending you strange messages you should turn it into the police? The answer; hundreds, but for some reason tonight that thought was over-shadowed by something greater. The chance to know what really happened to her those two years back and where she truly came from or who brought her here. She shivered involuntarily from the icy cold wind as it battered her. She knew where she was going, though the messenger hadn't said it himself. She was going to Old Fort Niagara on the banks of Lake Erie.

It wasn't the most famous fort in the revolutionary war, but it traded hands often enough where it didn't just fly an American flag over it's stoney self, but a French and British flag as well. Standing on the hillside of the fort almost completely drenched in the Autumn rain she peered out over the lake and past the leaning light house. Across from Old Fort Niagara you could still see the British fort in Canada from the other side. An eery feeling crept over her as the sun began to set around her and she drew her hood farther over her face before continuing down the muddy hillside and up to the fort beyond.

Strangely enough there were no guards where there should have been and the doors stood wide open into the historic halls. This was odd considering they normally kept the doors closed on rainy days to preserve the stone on the inside which was the same stone the fort was originally built with. Cautiously, she stepped inside and shook the wetness out of her hair. "Hello?" She called, the floorboards groaning as she stepped further inside. The eery feeling within her built up as she saw that a fire had been built and was left crackling in the ancient fireplace. A book was left open on the stone bench. Seeing no one in the spacious room, she crept towards the fire and sat down on the bench.

Picking up the book, two small pieces of paper fell out from the cover. Jane picked them up and examined them. The first was a simple picture of three teenaged girls and an older man sitting around what looked to be a breakfast table. Each was smiling but what caught her eye was the girl sitting in the direct center of the shot. She had very familiar green eyes and especially familiar mixed color hair. She wore a pair of glasses that were slightly large and oddly enough was dressed like a Mouseketeer from the original 1950's show; ears and all. Chillingly she knew that she was looking at herself. The other two girls in the picture, though they weren't dressed as anything as far as Jane could tell, didn't strike a memory and she set the picture down carefully beside her. The next piece of paper turned out to be a letter, though whom it was from had been almost entirely torn off, only to whom it would go to had been scrawled over the top in neatly waved hand-writing that clearly belonged to a woman.

_Andy,_

_It's been nearly six months since the accident and since Peter has died, and nearly a full year since we have seen each other or since we have spoken. I don't blame you for what happened to Peter and I most certainly do not blame you for what has happened to Pamela. We born in a family famous for its mistakes Andrew, you are a fool if you think you were an exception to that. The past, however lies behind us and you have to look forward to the future for the sake of the family that we have left. Face it Andrew, we need to start banding together or we'll all die. Do you really think it an accident that Damion's car crashed on the way back from Peter's funeral? Or that Carmella was 'accidentally' poisoned by that rose? Think about it Andy, how many more are going to have to die before you come to your senses and help us? You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened to Peter and you certainly can't keep blaming yourself for what they did to Pam. The past is the past Andrew, if you can't learn to leave it behind the entirety of our family's work will have been for nothing, and you know Pam would have never forgiven you for backing out on those girls' future. It's only a matter a time. Think about it._

- Lu

And that's where the letter ended.


	3. Chapter 3

Pia laced up her combat boots and straightened her black sweatshirt as she stood up. She walked over to her dresser and tied back her curly hair in a tight ponytail. She took a moment to look into the mirror. Her face was harder than it had been two years ago, the grief of losing her sister had aged her greatly. Her eyes were gaunt and her skin as pale as ever, but a hard determination burned in her steely gray eyes.

She shook her head and walked out of her bedroom. Since her sister had disappeared Pia had stationed herself as close to the room where Irene lived as she could. She didn't feel safe anywhere else. She shook out her hands and began running full-speed down the stone pathways. She ran for five minutes until she reached the room she was looking for. Her other sister, Jaz had chosen a room close to the training grounds.

Pia knocked once and opened the door. Jaz was sitting in a chair by the window reading from a book. The library was only ten minutes distance from Jaz's room so she was often either there or in her bedroom reading. With Colby gone they were coping in their own way. Jaz had books, Pia had training and dreams. She never told a soul, but every night she could swear she could see her sister and speak with her in her dreams. They were more special when they were private.

Jaz looked up from her novel and Pia leaned herself against the dresser. "Appealing again?" Jaz's voice was small as the rest of her as she brushed a loose strand of red hair behind her ear. Pia gave a curt nod and Jaz looked down into her lap, fingering the leather cover of the book she was holding. A few moments passed in silence before she spoke again. "I know you want her back... I do too... but isn't this going a little... far? Pia, it's been two years. She could be dead... she could be a different person. Don't you think she would have come back on her own if she were still alive or even wanted to? They told us she found another sister... perhaps she's gone with her."

Pia clenched her nails tightly around the wood of the dresser and took a deep breath. "You miss her?" She hissed. "You don't know the half of it. I lived my whole life with her. I listened to her talk about how relieving it would be to find our parents when were little. She was taken from us trying to do that very thing and for all we know she's being put through every torture in the book and you want me to stay here so I can watch you waste away your life reading books alone in this room. I've been training for two years and whether you like it or not I'm going after her. I'm bringing her home if it's the last thing I do."

Jaz bit her lower lip and Pia slammed the door shut behind her. When she was out in the hall again she ran until she found the tapestry hiding the way to Irene's room. She squeezed herself through the door and crawled her way through the tunnels until she emerged in the hidden room. Irene wasn't there so Pia set to work. She'd built her personal training room out of here. She started with the arrows and grabbed her bow from the shelf. The targets were in the rafters for distance so she lay on her back and strung up the bow. She began with rubber arrows until her aim was so sure that she didn't worry about sharp arrows falling back towards her.

Pia notched three arrows and fired them one after another towards the three targets. Each hit their mark dead on. She climbed up to the rafters and retrieved them, taking a moment to look through a crack in the stone at the yard below. The woman as down there, the one that brought them here. In the two years since Colby had gone the woman had kept a close eye on Pia. She'd dyed her hair a dark red and Pia had never seen her natural hair color, not that she wasn't smart enough to figure out who that woman was. Who she really was.

Pia scaled down from the rafters and landed on her feet. She walked over to her selection of guns that she had pillaged from the armory. She filled her holsters and climbed back up to the rafters where she pushed a hidden button. Moving targets unfurled from the ceiling and she raced along the rafter shooting each gun in succession until it was out of bullets. Every hit was a kill mark. She drilled again and for a third time before she jumped back down to the floor and took up her throwing knives.

She was sharpening them when she heard the bell chime noon. She slid a knife in the hidden sheath of her pocket and put the rest of her weapons away. She crawled back through the tunnels and ran to the dining hall where she bought her lunch and took it out to the yard. She ate silently until the woman sat next to her. "Pia." She said before taking a bite out of a yellow apple. Pia dipped her chin in acknowledgment.

"I'm appealing today." The woman nodded.

"They'll ask you to demonstrate your skills."

"I'm ready." The woman nodded again and took another bite from her apple.

"I know you've figured me out but have you told Jasmine?" Pia kept her surprise to herself and continued to stare blankly forward.

"No, I haven't. If you didn't notice she obviously prefers to be alone."

"I want you to know that it was never my choice to leave after Jasmine's birth."

"You were our mother, and I respect that, but I stopped caring years ago." Pia said coldly as she took a bite from her own apple. "Colby didn't though. She always wanted to know you." The woman nodded.

"I wanted to know her too, but I was never really far. I was allowed to watch you from a distance but I was never allowed to touch you, hold you, speak with you. You always seemed so full of life."

"What of the other one. Stacey." Pamela shook her head.

"When I left I was pregnant, so they kept me trapped in one room until I gave birth to her. They shipped her off and I was only ever told that she was a girl and would be given to a safe home. They learned to trust me on a leash and that's when I was allowed to watch you three. A small consolation for good behavior."

Pia finished her apple and stood, throwing the core into a nearby trash bin. "Well it wasn't enough, not for her." Pia didn't wait for an answer instead she ran to her bedroom where she took the snowflake necklace off of her dresser and tied it around her neck. She touched it gently before leaving the room.

Xx

Jane's hands were shaking and she picked the photograph up from where it had fallen onto the floor. She touched the other girls' faces. "Who am I?" She asked herself in a quiet whisper. She set the letter and the photograph aside and ran a hand along the faded leather cover of the book. Taking a deep breath she opened the cover and saw another note written in scrawling script along the corner of the first yellowed page. '_My darling girls, when you receive this book you will have found out everything. __You will know who I am and you will either hate me or love me, or perhaps you are indifferent. You will know the truth of your heritage, your mother and your own lives and it will be either a blessing or a curse; there is no room for indifference there. I just need you to know, I love you and where ever you are, whoever you have become, I feel I will be very proud of what you have made of yourselves. Jasmine, Pia, Colby... You never stopped mattering to me. I think on you daily and your mother as well. Wherever she is, I feel she must miss you with all of her heart. You all look so much like her in your own ways. Colby, you have her beautiful hair, Jasmine her sparkling blue eyes, and Pia, you have her sense of adventure and I hope it will be as permanent in you as her features in your sisters. I must go for now, but if you should ever want to find me, I know you'll know the way._

_A. Smith_

She flipped the page and found several photographs of babies and small children. The first five pages were solely devoted to a set of twins, the first photograph had them labeled as Pia and Colby on the day they were born. February 9th, 1995. They would be seventeen... her age. '_Well... that narrows it down a bit...' _Eventually the photographs went from the twins learning to walk or talk to the twins and another baby labeled Jasmine. She closed the book to a picture of the three girls dressed entirely in black toddler sized dresses and shoes at a funeral.

Jane couldn't move for a moment, her head was racing. The girl in the photograph was definitely her and it was obvious from the photographs she was one of the twins but the pictures stopped before they were old enough for her to discern enough of herself from one over the other. When she could finally mobilize herself again she put the book in her backpack with the photograph and letter tucked safely back inside of the cover. It was fully dark out and the stars burned brightly in the north American sky.

Her legs started to itch and her spin tingled so she set off running, never stopping until she reached the old psychiatric ward. When she was back in her bedroom she dressed for bed and brushed out her hair. She stopped to run her fingers through the smooth untangled strands and wondered if perhaps the hair was her gift from the mother. Her head and her heart were pounding with sudden pain. She gripped the bureau tightly with her left hand and the brush clattered to the floorboards from her right. She felt nauseous and suddenly her feet weren't supporting her anymore.

She fell to her knees and began shaking. Then as suddenly as it came, it went.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: The gang comes in soon, I promise! Anyway, I feel bad because I just looked at the reviews for this and found I'd totally forgotten how much Pia really wanted me to finish this '^^

Chapter Four:

He smiled at her, she truly was beautiful. Her long, richly golden brown hair curled at the end and was tied with a forest green ribbon of silk thread and her pale skin glowed brightly against her emerald dress that reached down to her knees. The skirt was ruffled and the sleeves ended at her elbow and flowed down to her calves. The neckline ended in a v just at the top of her bosom. The front of the bodice was a darker, richer green with two lines of gold going from the neckline to her hips. Golden leaves and reaching vines were embroidered over the entire dress.

From her neck hung a lace of gold with a charm shaped as a night-flower, the petals spread open and giving the shape of a sun. On her ears golden cuffs with golden leaves dangling from them clung to the sides of her ears. Her dark green eyes speckled with earthy brown were warm and inviting. She moved her foot forward and looked at her shoes with a smile of achievement. They were the rich green of the forests with gold lining and the a golden leaf attached to the top of the shoe over where her toes were hidden. Lastly on her wrist a bracelet of gold sparkled and hung delicately from her skin.

"You look the picture of an elf," He told her, his voice warm with sentiment. She gave him one of her rare smiles and kissed his cheek, placing a hand on each of his shoulders as she lifted herself up on the tips of her toes to reach it. The black stubble on his cheek tickled her lips and she wrinkled her nose as she pulled away and gave him a wry smile. He laughed, deep and true. "Come, we'll be entirely late for own event." In a different room a baby cried. The woman held a finger to her lips and went to the doorway on the wall to their right.

She crept her way to a crib in which the baby slept and reached in with tender arms and retrieved the infant. The woman sat in a rocking chair and began softly singing to the child in her arms. The man had followed her to the door and watched as she began her song.

"_Hush my little child,_

_ The world sleeps now._

_ You must follow the fairies and dream how_

_ They'll take you into the whispering wood._

_ They'll lead you to the angels_

_ If you only believe they could."_

As she sang he walked to the crib and removed the second child, silent but as awake as her sibling. Her gray eyes inspecting the man with curiosity.

_"In the wood the elves lie in wait_

_ To laugh and dance the world away._

_ Wisps fly in the wind out there_

_ Waiting for those who truly care._

_ Hush my little baby,_

_ And join them now_

_ Let the moonlight kiss your brow_

_ As you dance with elf and dream with wisp._

_ Just remember to come back to me come morn_

_ Into my arms so soft and warm..."_

_Xx_

Jane woke in her bed. She felt, if only for a moment, as if she were in that room and her insides warmed with a familiarity she wasn't sure she'd ever felt. She sat up and slowly moved her legs over the edge of the bed. When she raised her head and saw the photo-album sitting on her bureau a stark reality bludgeoned the warmth from her chest. She stood with shaky knees and walked towards the album, laying a gentle hand on the leather-bound cover and slowly spreading her fingers over the soft worn leather.

When she heard a creak below her she immediately grabbed the album and thrust it into the bureau drawer and retrieved her brush. When her a knock resounded on her door she immediately began brushing through her hair. "Come in," she said as calmly as her voice allowed. A woman with short brown hair walked in and smiled at Jane.

"Good morning, my dear. I trust you've slept well?" Jane nodded and set her brush aside as she reached for a hair scrunchie lying on top of her bureau. She slipped it onto her wrist and began braiding her hair as the woman continued. "Very good, however I received knowledge that you left your room last night past hours and hurriedly made your way to Fort Niagara. May I ask why?" Jane's face went pale. Her fingers froze and her braid slipped from her hands.

"I... I just wanted to get some fresh air..." The woman raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"More than an hour's walking distance from the ward?"

"I thought a walk would do me good... I felt shut up in here and so I just... went." The woman nodded.

"So you walked to the fort, a three hour walk, another three coming back, because you wanted fresh air and you felt 'shut up.' Jane dear, I'm not an idiot. Why were you out?" Jane hung her head.

"I got a text message from some kid at school. He made it all cryptic and to me it sounded like he wanted to ask me out so I went to the fort. Stupid, I know."

"Where is this text message?" Jane retrieved her phone from her nightstand and handed it to her caretaker. The woman read it and with a humph gave it back to Jane.

"I can't fault you for being young. Anyway, get dressed, your breakfast is ready." Jane nodded and her being flooded with relief. She was lucky she'd thought of altering the message and sending it back to herself last night. When her caretaker left, Jane fixed braid and tied it off. As she got dressed she thought of the woman and subconsciously she touched her hair.

Xx

Pia opened her eyes and for a moment her breath and her heart stopped. She'd had a dream about her mother and supposedly her father, but what made her chest warm with familiarity was the sight of her sister, squalling in their mother's arms so many years ago. "Colby..." she whispered. The warmth flooded from her and the numbness returned as she remembered the present. She looked around herself, she was in Irene's room again.

"You fell asleep, my love." Irene's voice floated to her from the other side of the room where she sat spinning silk through an old-fashioned spindle. The room was changed, as it always did when Irene was alive in it. The stone walls were covered with red hangings and the wooden floor no longer creaked and groaned with age as Pia stood.

"What time is it?" Pia demanded.

"You have not missed your hearing. You still have three hours. Sit, have some tea, darling." Pia shook her head.

"I need to get ready."

"Darling you're as ready as you'll ever be. Have some tea, dear." Pia shook her head again and left. Irene vanished immediately as Pia walked into her bedroom. She brushed out her curly hair and tied it back. Her steely gray eyes were stark as iron. She tightened her combat boots and fastened her cloak around her shoulders. She opened her backpack and began placing clothing, her brush, and other personal items into it. When it was stuffed full she placed it at the foot of her bed and touched her snowflake necklace, thinking on the dream. They must have been around a year old in that dream, which meant their mother was pregnant again. They would have been a family for another half a year before she faked her death and left.

Pia closed her eyes for a moment and pushed herself out the door and began her run to her sister's room. When she got there the door was cracked open. She slipped it open and saw Jaz asleep with a book in her hand in her desk chair. Soundlessly Pia removed the book and placed it on the desk before she picked Jaz up placed her in the bed. She took the quilt from the edge of the bed and unfolded it, throwing it gently over her sister's body. Pia knelt and placed a kiss on her sister's cheek and then left as if she had never gone in.

Xx

An hour later Jaz awoke, strands of curly red hair hanging in her eyes. For a moment she was confused, she could have sworn she'd fallen asleep in her chair reading a book about badgers, but the confusion was soon swept aside as she remembered her dream. She supposed she dreamt of her mother, but she couldn't see how or why she'd been able to dream of her as the mother of just her sisters and not her. Perhaps her mother was pregnant with her, the twins did seem to be the right age... Jaz stopped herself. She did her best everyday not to think about the past, it hurt too much. But then the present wasn't much to live for at the moment either. Jaz sighed and sat up.

She thought on Pia. Why, she wondered again as she often did. Of course she knew the answer, she felt that way herself, but why, she would ask, does the one sister she had left, feel the need to risk herself for the sister she had already lost? Then there was the other one... a third sister. Sometimes Jaz wondered what she was like. Did she have red hair like her, or did she have Colby's golden brown? Maybe Pia's brunette... Did she have blue eyes, gray eyes, green, brown like their father's. Maybe she was dead too, lost as Colby was. Or perhaps she was alive out there with her sister. That was what Jaz often hoped. That Colby had managed to escape with this other sister an her death was some lie made to cover it up.

Any way that it happened, she was still down a sister and she was about to lose another no matter how much it hurt.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Pia sat outside the Grand Hall waiting to be called in and sharpening her throwing knives. Inside she knew they were setting up her trials as they had the other two times she had appealed. To be approved she would have had to master archery, knives, guns, swords, fighting with rods, sticks; essentially whatever would be around for her to fight with should her weapons fail her. She looked up as her mother walked in and sat next to her.

Pamela was wearing gear much like Pia. She wore a black button-down shirt, matching pants and combat boots laced up to her mid-calf. On her back was slung a shotgun, loaded with twenty rounds, a pistol was holstered to each hip. Knives were hooked into straps that ran from shoulder to hip on each side and a dagger was strapped to her thigh. On the other a set of throwing stars were set in straps from her hip to her knee down the side on her thigh. A quiver of arrows was belted around her waist tightly and a bow was strapped to her back over the shotgun.

She sat down next to Pia and didn't say a word as she was looked up and down. Her thick dyed hair was tied back and braided, her green eyes were as steely as Pia's own. After a minute of silence, Pia broke.

"Fine, I'll ask. Why are you sitting next to me wearing more weapons than Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality?" Her mother smirked and continued to stare straight ahead of her.

"If you've forgotten, you are far too valuable to be allowed to leave on your own. They'll never trust you not to run off. Me, however, they can keep me on a leash. They'll trust me to go with you and keep you in line because your sister will still be here and no matter what you seem to think, I still love you; all of you. If I betray them, it's Jaz's head and no doubt yours once they track me down."

"How is it they don't think that threatening Jaz will stop me?" Pia asked, her voice icy. "Is she not y sister too as much as she is your daughter?"

"They believe you care too much for your lost twin that you might overlook the loss of a younger sibling you seem less bonded with. Before you protest, the reason they believe this so wholeheartedly is because of your own actions. You've obsessed over the possibility that Colby is still out there somewhere. I don't fault you for that, I don't trust the reports they give me as far as I can throw them. After all they told me they'd killed your father years ago.

On top of your obsession you've been more than intolerant of Jasmine's opinion that Colby might well be dead or have run off with your other sister. You've nearly shut her out completely because you seem feel she's given up on your family."

"That doesn't mean that I don't love her. Yes, I am angry with her for giving up, but I don't hate her. If they killed her... I'd be on my own entirely." Pamela raised her hand off her knee a few centimeters then set it back down. Pia wondered if she was going to try and comfort her. "Why do you still care? I've shut you away entirely, it's clear I blame you for everything." Pia wondered aloud and Pamela sat up a little straighter. It took her a moment and Pia thought she wouldn't answer.

"I care because I love you. I am still your mother, I did give birth to you. Everything I did after I found out we were pregnant for the first time, I did to protect you. It was too dangerous to be a part of this organization anymore and both your father and I saw that. We managed to spirit away to America and hide out in Buffalo where we had you and your sister. For a year we managed to hide, the only people who knew where we were was your father's sister and our other friends who chose to go into hiding as well with their families.

When the killings started was when we found out that I was pregnant again. It was too dangerous to move, we didn't know where was safe anymore. Our friends were being killed one by one and we had no doubt that they were attempting to get to us. We were high up in the organization before we left, they weren't going to leave us alone.

That's when your father found out from his sister that they'd found out my new identity and were close on figuring out where I was. We managed to stay low profile until your other sister was born. For about four months we managed to stay together in secrecy until I was approached in the grocery store one day by an official from the organization. They gave me two options, come quietly or stay and they'd kill the babies.

I went and I worked out a deal that I would fake my death and go into their hands. I didn't know that I was pregnant again or I would have done anything I could for a different deal. After my supposed death the plan was that your father would turn himself in with the fear that your own lives were in danger. The whole reason I agreed was because they agreed to let you live. Had they known Andrew was going to give you to your uncle, they never would have agreed.

Does that answer your question?"

Neither of them spoke again until the door opened beside them. Her mother stood up swiftly and walked gracefully through the door as if Pia had never questioned her intentions. Pia couldn't help but picture as she was in the dream, young, beautiful... happy. Pia gave a huff and shook the image from her head as she stood and threw her own bow over her shoulder and followed her mother into the hall.

Walking in the council was silent. Six women and six men sat at the raised dais. They scrutinized Pia as she walked in and gave distrustful glances towards Pam. "Good afternoon," one of the councilwomen said, "as I'm sure you are both well aware, you will be tested on your skills to survive together and in the event that you are on your own. Pass all the tests before you and you may leave to search for your lost relative. Test number one, archery."

As soon as the woman said it a host of moving targets sprung to life. Some were slow as death, others moved faster than a rabbit. Pia loosed three arrows in succession and each hit their mark. As she was notching another three she saw that Pam had already loosed ten arrows herself and killed off all but one of the fastest targets, her last arrow in the heart of a target on the other side of the room. Every hit had been a kill. Pia loosed her arrows and when all targets were embedded with arrows in hearts, lungs, heads, stomachs and throats.

"Test number two, guns." The targets moved aside and actual people in bullet-proof vests emerged with guns of their own. Blocks of stone raised out of the ground in random areas of the arena. Pia and Pam were tossed vests of their own and made quick time of putting them on. Pia quickly dodged behind the nearest stone barricade and took out her own pistol. Carefully she peered around the corner and shot the nearest man who had yet to hide in the chest. Immediately he lay on the ground as a pretend dead man.

Pam had gotten atop a barricade and was busy dodging bullets as she hopped from one to the other, shooting all the men she came in contact with. She was brave, Pia would give her that as she herself shot ten rounds into the vest of another man who had ventured too close to her barricade. There were fifty in all to 'kill.' She rolled out from her barricade and straight behind another, shooting the man hiding behind one across from her.

Pia managed to shoot twenty men before the doors opened and her heart stopped. They'd sent in a girl her age with a vest and gun. They'd died her hair the exact color of Colby's and lengthened it to match. The girl could have been easily Colby's double, but Pia knew it wasn't her, too many subtle differences. Her nose wasn't right, her lips too thin, her height too tall. However as Pia raised the gun she found she couldn't pull the trigger. Not at this girl.

The girl smirked and raised her own gun level to Pia's heart and placed her finger on the trigger. Pam looked over and just before the trigger was pulled Pam had shot her. Pia looked over at the woman who was her mother, then at the council. The rest of the tests went by in a blur, somehow her knives found targets and her hands worked sword and rod alike but her mind was distant. What was the idea of sending her in?

When the tests were all completed and she had been dismissed until an answer was reached, Pia approached her mother. "Why... what was the point?" She asked in a quiet voice. Pam swept a piece of her hair back behind her ear as she looked at Pia.

"They wanted to see if you'd kill your sister if you had to." Pia shook her head.

"Kill my sister?" Her voice was soft and distant. Pam nodded.

"If she was taken by another rival organization it's very possible that she was brainwashed and trained to kill you or me on sight. If you can't find it in you to defend yourself against her, they won't send you. However since I did it for you and I am her mother they might just overlook that." Pia's eyes filled with hatred.

"You would kill her?" There was no softness left in her voice anymore. "You would _murder_ her?" Pam's face went soft, then she whispered.

"No, I wouldn't. If truth be told I would let her kill me after I somehow got you away. My life means nothing if I don't at least die knowing all of my daughters are alive." Pia didn't say anything, instead she gathered her weapons and ran to Irene's room. When she got through the door she was hoping that she'd be there to tell her she was on the right path, but instead she was gone and Pia was alone.

Xx

Jane couldn't stop thinking about the dream. The woman, she was so beautiful that Jane couldn't believe that she was her mother. She supposed it wasn't a memory, maybe just a fantasy dreamed up by all that was happening. She didn't want to believe that she was the twin named Colby, not until she was absolutely sure. After all she had no photographs of the woman. For all she knew she was Pia.

She sighed a huff of annoyance and shook out her braided hair as she readied for bed that night. She already had her pajamas on and was about to brush through her hair when her phone buzzed on her nightstand. She set her brush down and reached for the phone. The message was from the same stranger who had first contacted her.

_I see you've found that photo-album. Have you figured yourself out? I won't be the one to tell you, but I will give you something else. Those caretakers of yours mean to take you away tomorrow night. They fear you're on the verge on figuring out who you are. My advice: don't drink the tea_

_Stan_

Jane deleted the message after reading it twice. She took up her brush again and slowly dragged it through her hair. The last time that she got a message from this stranger he revealed some of her past. This time, perhaps he was right and she should leave. Is it worth knowing her past, though? What if she was a horrible person, or what if her sisters were dead? Sisters... the word was strange in her mind; until just yesterday she didn't even know her name.

A knock sounded on her door and her other caretaker, a man in his early-thirties came in with her regular mug of tea. "Sleep well," he told her as he closed the door behind him. Jane took the mug carefully, wrapping her fingers around the warm ceramic mug. She sniffed it, it smelled as it did every night. Still, to be safe she crossed to her window, opened it and poured the tea into the bushes below.

Xx

Jaz closed her book and ran a hand over the cover. _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_, a wonderful novel about love, sacrifice, loyalty and the true meaning of death. Normally reading this book would bring back memories so wonderful that she forgot where she was. They had all loved the Harry Potter series. Colby was obsessed. They read this one together, she remembered. They each had their own copy and they read together in their basement library. Whenever someone got to a part that was especially emotional to them or struck them in any way they would go to a different room and record themselves discussing it to a camera. Then when they'd all finished the book they watched the tape and discussed it together.

Jaz set the book aside and looked out of the window. Pia was at her hearing and the woman had gone with her. With nothing left to do Jaz set off to do the only other thing she did here; explore the castle. She slid off of her bed and out into the empty corridor. She walked aimlessly for about thirty minutes until she came across Pia's room. She knocked on the door knowing that hearing must have been over by then. No answer came so Jaz walked on for another ten minutes until she came to a large tapestry she had never seen before.

It depicted a forest with fairies and a unicorns drinking from a sparkling lake. A stag and doe were in one corner and rabbits sat on the other corner. Birds flew amongst the branches and a phoenix was soaring near the tops of the trees in the moonlight. An owl peered out of a hole in a tree trunk and tiny elven children danced between the trees. It was gorgeous. She put a hand on it and felt something strange on the stone behind it as she ran her hand along the soft fabric.

Carefully she drew the tapestry back and saw a small door no higher than her knee with a rose carved into the wood. Jaz got down on her knees and pushed the door open gently. A small dark passage was behind it. Jaz took a deep breath and slowly crawled through. When she got to the end another door waited. She pushed it open and a slightly steep passage led up. She crawled, trying her best not to slide back as she made her way up.

The passage leveled off and she came to yet another door. She pushed it open and made it into a small room with wooden floors that creaked under her feet and crumbly stone walls. What really put Jaz off was that Pia was kneeling in the center of the room, shaking with sobs.


End file.
